Clay girl golfers win school's 1st-ever city championship
10/19/2010The Clay girls golf team recently accomplished something that no team in school history had ever done - win the City League golf championship.
Coach Kevin Crosson said he was confident before the season even started that the Eagles, in their 12th year as a program, would be a legitimate contender for the City title.
"The traditional powerhouses had graduated a lot of their better players, and we had a veteran team returning," Crosson said.
Clay's five seniors ended up setting the tone for the duration of the season and again at the City League tournament at Detwiler Golf Course on Sept. 30.
Four seniors - Jennifer Scharer (85), Amanda Maze (88), Alexa Orr (90) and Heather Pollauf (95) - posted a team score of 358 to complete the Eagles' climb from a fourth-place finish in the City championship last year.
Scharer was named to the All-City first team after her Top 5 finish at the tournament, while Maze and Orr were second-team honorees after their Top 10 finishes.
"It's a great accomplishment for the girls and the school and the community of Oregon," Crosson said. "All five seniors on the team contributed to leadership roles and did a great job for us."
St. Ursula, which had won the four previous City titles, edged Notre Dame 360-361 for second place.
"We knew we'd be right there because we had beaten all the schools in the City prior to the championship, except for St. Ursula," Crosson said. "So we knew we'd have to play a little bit better."
The Eagles did just that following a shotgun start with all the other City League teams.
Because all the golfers teed off at the same time and finished at the same time, nobody on the course had any clue which teams were leading throughout the tournament.
"With the shotgun start, all the scores came in at once, so we had no idea how we were doing after the first nine holes," Crosson said. "So when all the foursomes came in and posted their scores, we were trying to do the math real quick and we ended up squeaking one out. It was a great day."
Clay's season ultimately ended a couple days later at the Division I sectional tournament after its scores weren't good enough to advance to the district tournament.
Nevertheless, the Eagles still can be proud of their history-making season.
"Throughout the season it was a little bit of a rollercoaster ride," Crosson said. "We'd play really well one day and the next day we wouldn't. But everything came together for us at the City championship."
Contact Zach Silka at: zsilka@theblade.com
or 419-724-6084.